1. Field
Example embodiments relate to apparatuses and/or methods of determining data stored in a memory device. Also, example embodiments relate to apparatuses and/or methods of determining data stored in a memory device by shifting a threshold voltage of a memory cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
A non-volatile semiconductor memory, one of various storage mediums that can maintain stored data even when power is out, is widely used. One representative non-volatile memory is a flash memory which may have advantages of a smaller size, less power consumption, and higher reading rate compared to a conventional Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Recently, a Solid State Disk (SSD) is suggested to replace the HDD by using flash memory as mass storage.
Representative flash memories may be a NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, and the like. A method based on NAND and a method based on NOR may be discriminated by a cell array configuration and operation method.
The flash memory may be composed of an arrangement of a plurality of memory cells and a single memory cell may store at least one data bit. The single memory cell may include a control gate and the floating gate. Also, an insulator may provide insulation between the control gate and floating gate, and another insulator may provide insulation between the floating gate and a substrate.
An operation of storing data to the memory cell of the flash memory may be called programming and an operation of erasing a program or data may be performed by a hot carrier effect or a Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling (F-N tunneling) mechanism.